CAMPAIGNERS battling to prevent hundreds of homes being built on some of Nuneaton's last remaining countryside have vowed: "We will fight on."
A government planning inspector has ruled that developers Hallams can create a new housing estate on Weddington Fields.
His decision came after a five-day Public Inquiry at the Town Hall, but John Brookes of SWORD (Save Weddington Oppose the Residential Development), the organisation set up to fight the plans, insisted: "This is not the end.
"We have only lost a battle - not the war! We will be using our limited funds and resources to see what other avenues may be open to us to challenge the decision."
He added: "Although we must at this stage be realistic about what we can now achieve, SWORD will not be going away and there will be an announcement soon about how we plan to react to this decision."
Government inspector David Hollis ruled that Hallams can go ahead with plans to build 326 homes with ancillary facilities, including a doctors' surgery, on farmland in the green belt at Weddington.
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council originally refused planning permission for the scheme, but withdraw its opposition because it could not prove it had met its housing needs for the next five years and planning officers advised that its argument against the development was `flawed.'
That infuriated the protesters who felt they had been abandoned and left high and dry without any experience of the complexities of the planning process.
But John Brookes said: "We fought this because we all knew that it would open the floodgates for out-of-town developers to exploit our borough for their own ends."
Almost 4,000 people signed a petition protesting against the plans and their anger overspilled in a series of public meetings.
"Throughout this campaign, literally thousands of local residents came together in a common cause to try to preserve the community that they live in," said John Brookes.
"But, either way, we will not be going away. Nuneaton and Bedworth is still without a Local Plan, leaving the whole borough vulnerable to development threats, such as Bellway Homes' plans to build on fields next to the Long Shoot.
"SWORD are keen to use the fantastic local support we have gained so far to push for the people of Nuneaton and Bedworth to work with Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council to develop a housing strategy and a future vision for the borough that meets the needs of the public and not commercial, out-of-town developers."
In his report, the government inspector stated that the borough council has to earmark a deliverable supply of 2,225 new homes over the next five years.
